Sometimes in the garden there's nothing for it but to get physical!
Who needs to pay gym fees when there are thickets to clear, ailing and overcrowded trees to be felled, branches to drag to be shredded...
...and then mounds of shreddings (six foot high in places) to be redistributed around the garden as mulches and pathways.
Yes, the heavy work to start to restore my new garden has begun. The idea is to create a garden where I can test every gardening for wildlife feature imaginable and share the results with you.
In getting out there with wellies on at every possible moment, what is then lovely is that you see and hear things: the Grey Wagtail passing overhead (just wait till I get my pond!), the Rabbit in the thicket (how did it get there?!), the bumblebee using the Winter-flowering Cherry on 7 January, buffeted by the breeze.
Then there are the plants I've never seen before, such as finding this Chimonanthus (Wintersweet), I suspect the variant called Luteus on account of its pale, washed-out flowers, one of those winter plants just just have to get up close to and inhale deeply to soak up the scent.
There's a long slog ahead - the skill is in enjoying the process, and so far I'm loving it!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw